The state of our prisons

the long version

The State of Our Prisons reviews the changes in prisons policy and practice in England and Wales from the period following the May Committee to the present day, and presents the most authoritative and independent commentary on the work of the prison system to date. Using previously unpublished original research spanning the years 1984 through to 1991 - all supported by the Economic and Social Research Council - Roy King and Kathleen McDermott chart the performance of five representative prisons for adult males, drawing on the accounts and evaluations of those most intimately involved: prison staff, and prisoners and their families. They conclude that although many improvements have been made since the Woolf Report, performance still falls short of that achieved in the early 1970s in several vital aspects. In some areas improvements are being jeopardized by the new concern with austere regimes, and the authors argue that some of the most important 'key performance indicators' are simply not adequate to their task.